Tag: camp pollution

Via a reader tip comes news that the Korean left is trying to re-stoke this old issue to bash USFK with:

The city estimated that polluted water near the Yongsan Garrison and Camp Kim came to 1,870 tons and 100 tons, respectively.

City officials noted that benzene, toluene and xylene among other chemicals were found in the underground water system.

Despite the capital pumping nearly 2,000 tons of contaminated water since 2001, pollutants were found to have remained in drainage water from the bases.

The discovery of pollutants is increasing concerns about waste disposal at U.S. bases, already heightened by concerns of possible Agent Orange contamination at camps in Korea.

Officials reiterated the urgency of preventing pollutants from entering the Hangang River. (Korea Herald)

You can read more at the link but the so called environmentalists are also bashing camps that are no longer even being turned over like Camp Casey and Camp Hovey. First of all there is going to be pollution on camps that are decades old and housed military equipment. This is not news. Secondly these studies in the past have been sensationalized by including lead contamination from rifle ranges and oil from new asphalt as pollution. They even claimed that people had to wear decontamination suits to go on Camp Kyle which I proved was false.

A lot of this issue comes down money.
When the base handover agreements were completed by the Roh Moo-Hyun government, they agreed to take the land including all buildings and infrastructure at no cost. Further cleanup efforts beyond what the United States already has done is supposed to be handled by the ROK. So on this issue the left gets to bash USFK again while the government can use this issue to get more money from the U.S. To pay for base clean up.

Is anyone surprised that Korean politicians are demagoging the environmental issue:

Politicians are poised for their own investigation into the process in question.

Lawmakers of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee said they will conduct an on-site inspection Thursday at three bases north of Seoul, which were returned last month.

The inspection is part of preparations for a two-day hearing from June 25 on the issue, in which Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo, and Lt.Gen. Stephen G. Wood, the USFK’s deputy commander, are scheduled to testify.

“We will focus on whether or not the process of returning the bases was appropriate,” said Rep. Woo Won-shik, who recently bolted from the pro-government Uri Party.

Still, it remains uncertain whether the lawmakers will shed light on the allegations raised by environmental activists.

These law makers just happen to be from the liberal political parties like Uri and the DLP who currently have favorably ratings of 9.1% and 10.3%. They are trying to demagogue the pollution issue to their own political advantage. During the 2002 election season they had the June 13th accident to demagogue and since they have no accident this year to demagogue they are relying on the camp pollution issue instead to hopefully rally anti-US sentiment to garner votes.

These environmentalists could care less about pollution in Korea in general because their only concern is manufacturing anti-US sentiment. As many of you I’m sure remember, the environmental groups along with a large block of the DLP political party have been linked to a North Korean spy ring.

These lawmakers and environmentalists have little creditability and I suspect much of the camp pollution findings have been “Dr. Hwang-ed” for political purposes. I have been saying this for months, I would love to see a detailed line by line report on the supposed environmental damage in every camp. What I suspect is going on is that these demagogues are making claims of pollution due to the presence of asphalt on the camps for example. Oil is used in making asphalt thus they can make claims of oil slicks on the camps based on the presence of asphalt.

USFK should use this scheduled hearing to go on the offensive. I have been saying this months as well that USFK should conduct environmental impact studies of the land surrounding USFK camps compared to the land inside the camps. I know quite a few areas outside of USFK camps in Uijongbu that are highly polluted by the local Korean community.

The Korean government would probably never agree to this, but it would also be useful to compare USFK camps to ROK Army camps. I am willing to bet the USFK camps are much cleaner than ROK Army camps. By the government refusing to carry out such a impact study could be used by USFK to support their claims they have met government standards for environmental clean up if the Korean government is not willing to conduct the same type of pollution studies on their own military’s land.

By presenting evidence that USFK camps are cleaner than the surrounding community would greatly diminish the claims by the demagogues. However, what will probably happen is that the demagogues will get their chance to grand stand and bash the US military while USFK officials just take it and hope it all just goes away.

HT: Marmot

USFK is responding to inaccurate news reports in the Korean media about the hand over of USFK bases to the Korean government:

According to a USFK news release, command officials want to explain the camp return process following a week that saw many inaccurate and misleading articles and editorials in various Internet and print media sources.

USFK has closed more than two dozen bases as part of a plan to consolidate most of its forces at Camp Humphreys. Over the past 19 months, the South Korean government agreed to accept just seven of those bases, citing unacceptable pollution levels at the others.

Fridays USFK release stated that those delays result in lost economic opportunities for the South Korean people and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $400,000 a month to guard closed bases. Neither USFK nor South Korean government officials would comment on news reports early last week that the United States was going to stop guarding those bases this month.

The issue with the delays is the environmental cleanup of the bases before return.

Under the status of forces agreement, the United States is not obliged to restore the facilities and areas to the condition they were at the time they became available to the U.S. armed forces, or to compensate the government of the ROK in lieu of such restoration, according to the Friday news release.

In return, South Korea gets the land for free and doesnt have to pay the United States for any capital improvements such as buildings and other infrastructure.

The end state to this is that the ROK not only receives its land for its use, it receives the utility of billions of dollars of U.S. investment over the years free, at the expense of the American taxpayer, according to the release. This is a very, very good deal for the people of the Republic of Korea.

There is an attempt by some to negate the SOFA agreement as it relates to camp returns and to introduce new environmental standards, according to the release.

The release states that U.S. policy requires USFK to remedy known, imminent, and substantial endangerments to human health and safety.

But USFK has agreed to go above those standards by pulling out selected underground fuel storage tanks, removing heavy metal contamination from firing ranges and hiring a South Korean company to run a high-vacuum pump system that targets groundwater fuel contamination at five camps, according to the release.

Inaccurate news reports in Korea? Say it ain’t so? Yes, I’m being sarcastic because the Korean media is well known for twisting facts and printing blatant lies particularly when dealing with USFK. The camp hand over is another one of these issues being distorted by anti-US hate groups and the media to inflame anti-American sentiment in order to stop the camp consolidation at Camp Humphreys. The consolidation of camps at Camp Humphreys will reduce the US footprint in Korea, in turning reducing incidents from happening between Koreans and Americans. The camps where they are now create incidents and also serve as a reminder to Koreans of the USFK presence in Korea compared to the out of the way Camp Humphreys, which the location definitely has a out of sight, out mind quality for being in Korea.

The anti-US hate groups need to keep USFK right where they are at in order to keep the under current of anti-American feelings in the general Korean public. The camp consolidation will be a huge blow to the anti-US hate groups in Korea and they know it and their North Korean allies know it too. The North Koreans want to keep the US camps where they are at, not only because of the anti-Americanism it creates, but also because it keeps the US forces in the Second Infantry Division within range of North Korean artillery. This enhances their bargaining power when it comes to the six party talks with the US.

However, there is another player in this issue as well, China. If the camp consolidation can be stopped there is the very real chance that the US will dissolve the US-ROK alliance which would be a huge win for the Chinese. China would by default once again become the historical hegemon of the Korean peninsula.

Obviously there is a lot riding on the USFK camp consolidation issue and right now USFK is doing the right things to make the camp consolidation a reality while the whole way fighting off the attacks of those who want to stop it, which are many.

I knew it was only a matter of time before the anti-US groups protesting the Camp Humphreys expansion would bring up the “environmental damage” that the US causes to the environment in order to further delay the expansion.

Over the years, they had rebuilt their lives and started new farms. But it was difficult with the American base next door. In 2003, I climbed into the area’s irrigation canals with rice farmer Chong Tay Wah. They were filled with untreated oil run-off from the
U.S. base.

“When the water comes from the U.S. base, the river turns black,” he explained, “and when it doesn’t rain much, the water is really, really black. This is the water that we use for our farming. Before, we could fish from the streams, but now we can’t because the fish all smell like oil and they’re black. It was very delicious before. I caught the fish and ate them, but it’s all over now.”

Under the Status of Forces Agreement that governs the American Army in South Korea, the
U.S. military is exempt from most environmental laws.

Rice farmer Cong Taw Wah told me that most of the time the farmers had to clean up after the Army.

“When the oil is released into the stream, we take the oil out of the stream,” he said. “We put on rubber clothes, and we float paper on the stream. Because of the polluted water, when we enter the water we get hurt. It looks like mosquito bites. Our whole leg turns red. Then we burn the paper in a big fire, and the smoke goes up in the air.”

False information being put out once again.  I don’t know if I can put this anymore clearly, but soldiers in the US Army cannot pour oil into a drainage ditch.  The US military has stringent environmental standards enforced by civilians that work for USFK.  I am willing to compare the environmental standards USFK follows to any ROK Army installation or a Korean industrial area.  USFK bases are actually a oasis from the polluted environment that usually surrounds the compounds.

Look at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul as a perfect example.  After that base is turned over the Korean government is talking about turning it into a park because it is so clean. The claims about USFK not following environmental laws because of the SOFA Agreement are similar to the claims that USFK personnel never get tried in Korean courts after committing crimes, yet USFK personnel are sentenced all the time in Korean courts and there is still a sizable group of people out there who think this does not happen.  It is the same thing with these “environmental damage” claims.  It is all about the big, bad SOFA Agreement again.  Look for the anti-US groups to try and make this issue a second front in their campaign to drum up support from an increasingly disinterested Korean public.